Sports Illustrated reporter tells how youth sports turned 'toxic'

ELIOT, Maine — A former Sports Illustrated journalist told parents on Friday that kids are being pushed much too hard when it comes to youth sports.

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By Karen Dandurant

seacoastonline.com

By Karen Dandurant

Posted Apr. 12, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Karen Dandurant

Posted Apr. 12, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

ELIOT, Maine — A former Sports Illustrated journalist told parents on Friday that kids are being pushed much too hard when it comes to youth sports.

Luis Fernando Llosa spoke at the Seacoast Waldorf School to members of the community. He told parents they should take a more active role in seeing that their children learn to play sports to have fun, not learn to be competitive athletes until they are much older and ready for the pressure.

Llosa is co-author of the book "Beyond Winning: Smart Parenting in a Toxic Sports Environment." The father of five, Llosa is a longtime youth soccer coach who said he works to apply his principles to his own children's teams.

"Time and again, I hear stories of what I have come to call the dark side of youth sports," said Llosa.

It was Llosa who helped expose many sports controversies, like the 14-year-old star pitcher in the Little League World Series. The cutoff age for players was 12, but the boy was being told by his coach and his father to lie about his age because the competition was worth more than honesty.

"We need to deal with ego-driven coaches," he said.

As an investigative journalist for Sports Illustrated, Llosa outed many anti-aging and steroid cases in professional athletics, but he also exposed a case where the father of an in-line skater became the first parent ever sent to prison, for "doping" his son from the age of 12.

"As I got more into youth sports, it became apparent there was a pervasive theme of competitiveness, not because of the kids, but because of the parents and the coaches," said Llosa. "Kids are started earlier and earlier, and by the age of 13, 70 percent quit sports altogether because they are already too injured to play or because they no longer want to be involved."

Llosa and his co-authors, Kim John Payne and Scott Lancaster, have a Web site, www.wholechildsports.com, offering tips on ways parents and coaches can bring the friendly back into youth sports. He suggests kids not be involved in truly competitive playing until they are 13 years old.

"We can start them later so they peak later and do not quit," he said. "In the meantime, they can learn to play, something kids today have lost. In fact, children get injured much less when playing, climbing trees. They know when to stop and they also do not want to hurt their friends."

Specializing in one sport is not good for children, Llosa said. He said they should play several, try several, and that it helps in their development.

"Last year, 1.35 million kids had a sports injury severe enough to require a trip to the hospital," he said. "That is anything from strains, breaks, concussions to an injury that will prevent them from ever playing again."

Parents can be the worst offenders in youth sports. Llosa said they need to look back at their own "sports biographies."

"Were their parents pushing them as hard?" Llosa asks. "Were they belittled by coaches whose own goal was to win and not necessarily focused on what was best for the kids? We need to make those rabid sports dads and coaches the outliers, the minority."

As a Waldorf School, competitive sports are not encouraged in students until the fifth grade, said third-grade teacher Dennis Brennan.

"In the fifth grade, we do Greek studies," said Brennan. "So we have our own Olympics, and they play against other Waldorf schools."

Nursery school teacher Wendy Marciniak said she believes youth sports are often more for the parents. She said it's better to wait until the kids are bigger, stronger and more emotionally able to handle the stress of competitive sports.

"I think the kids who start too young, who are pushed, do exhibit stress," said Brennan. "You can notice a difference in the way they interact with other children. You wouldn't feed a baby steak, so why not wait until the child is ready."

Kids are missing that growing-up phase, said Llosa. He said parents, trying to get their children away from all the technology they are bombarded with, turn to sports.

"We did not grow up with the same experience," said Llosa. "American children are being robbed of their childhood. We played, explored and we connected with our parents and our friends."

There is no easy answer, but Llosa said his goal is to raise an awareness in parents, one that will hopefully result in their taking back youth sports and making it the fun it should be.